How can China arrange a reasonable and favorable response to the frequent U.S. warship’s entry into and exit from the South China Sea? How to solve the South China Sea problem? At the 2019 Global Times Annual Meeting “China-U.S. Competition and the Changing World” on December 8, Qiao Liang, Major General and Professor at The National Defense University, said in an interview with a Global Times reporter that, “military operations without war” is the most feasible and best way to handle the South China Sea issue.

Regarding U.S. warship’s frequent entry into and exit from the South China Sea, Major General Qiao Liang expressed that China’s appeal in the South China Sea is the “nine-segment line” rather than the 12 nautical miles mark around the small islands in Nansha. “So, we certainly cannot talk about this issue from the perspective of an infringement of sovereignty. Protesting against a sovereignty violation is not the best way.”

In Qiao Liang’s view, China should neither enter war with the opponents nor merely protest in response to the South China Sea issue. Once a war breaks out, the consequences will be unpredictable. Therefore, the controllable non-war military action is the “arms wrestling game” between the big countries. Namely, within a controllable scope, taking “limited, low-intensity military operations that do not pass the threshold of war” is the best way.